Promoting physical activity is goal of PAC Project

Daniel Morin

Michelle Fortier

Michelle Fortier stays in shape by swimming with a team of triathletes three times a week in the Montpetit Hall pool, close to where she works. She is among the minority of Canadians who follow Health Canada's recommendations for physical activity.

“About 70 per cent of the Canadian population do not attain the level of recommended physical activity of 30 to 60 minutes per day,” says Michelle Fortier, a professor at the School of Human Kinetics and at the School of Psychology.

In an effort to combat this poor level of physical condition, she has recently launched a research project “to establish an interdisciplinary primary care team to encourage physical activity.” With this in mind, the team will include a physical activity consultant (PAC).

For the study, 150 people will be recruited from a local medical clinic – women and men between the ages of 18 and 69 who have an inadequate level of physical activity. All these people will have a short initial consultation with a doctor or nurse practitioner, who will encourage them to be more active. Then, half the participants will go on to see the physical activity consultant, who will work with them for three months.

“What is really innovative in this project,” says Fortier, “is the integration of a new member who has the expertise and the time to truly help to change a patient's attitude towards physical activity.”

The PAC's initial role will be to help the participant to overcome personal obstacles to being physically active. The work will also entail finding community resources, which the patient can access in order to meet his or her needs.

“Our aim is to help the patient find one or several physical activities they can be passionate about and which they can practice over the long term,” says the researcher. “What matters most for us most with this project is improving the motivation, confidence and attitude towards physical activity.”

Launched in September 2004, the project should continue until March 2006. The multidisciplinary team brings together a dozen researchers under the direction of Fortier and Dr. William Hogg of the Department of Family Medicine. Monfort Hospital is a partner in the project, and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care contributed $682,677 towards the study.